battery stuck at 1%

[Daniele Focosi]

bGeigie Nano unit #2974 since the very beginning has always had troubles with battery level indication on the display. Initially it changed value at subsequent startups, now it is stuck at 1%, but everything works (it can stay on for hours, and logging occurs perfectly). I mean, it is not impacting function, but being unable to assess battery charge level is not pleasant !

I suspected it was a faulty battery (the mylar had been punched during the assembly) so I got a new battery, but the problem persists. The customer care at Github told me to double check solder joints at positions around R1 and R2, and the connections labeled "BAT" and "SW". I double checked those joints and they are all ok

Any other suggestion ?

[Louis Bertrand]

Are resistors R1 and R2 the correct value? In other words not swapped around?

Looking at the schematic on github and comparing to mine:

* R1 should be 9k1 (9100 ohms) Colour code: white-brown-red-gold

* R2 should be 1k0 (1000 ohms) Colour code: brown-black-red-gold

All the best

 --Louis

[Daniele Focosi]

Yes, R1 and R2 are placed correctly (btw I thought it wouldn't switch on at all if reversed).

Any other suggestion ?

Thanks

[Daniele Focosi]

Just to add that, despite the writing at boot up says battery = 1%, then the icon at the top right corner show a fully charged battery...

Please see the attached short movie and try to help me...

Thanks a ton

[Rob Oudendijk]

Daniele,

Yes, that is strange. The voltage of the battery is measured on a pin at the FIO. The same pin is measured at startup screen  and used for displaying the battery level. Maybe something else got blowup when the battery was punctured. Do you know what area of the board was puncturing the battery?

Do you have pictures of the board from the backside?

regards

rob

[Daniele Focosi]

Thanks Bob.

I was able to get a brand new battery from KitHub (my seller) and the phenomenon is still the same (1% at bootup, then full charge icon in top right corner of LCD).

Additionally, while in "Bq/m / mSv/h" mode the display says "Battery low. No logger". I'm going crazy with that.

The only certain thing is that the low charge readings are wrong since the device stays on for hours.

Can you please let me know which pins should I double check on the FIO ? I have already checked "SW", "CHG", and "BAT" in addition to R1 and R2.

Thanks

[hélios buissart]

Hello, i recently got my bgeigie, and i got the same problem.

i checked every components and solderings: all is ok.

additionally, when i power up the board by the 3v3 pin of the FDTI without the battery plugged, i got the same 01% battery.

 does anyone have a solution ?

thanks !

[Lugul banda]

i have a similar Problem but on the other side, my bgeige Nano shows full if its full, and 53% if its nearly depleted.....

[Bern]

I am having similar problems with the screen displaying 'Battery= 01%' and BATTERY LOW' but the battery but the bgeigie nonetheless working for many hours without issue.

I also have the NO LOGGER/NO SD CARD issue. I have submitted a new question to the group on it:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/safecast-devices/qgaZB7YupNI

B

[Brain Dead Administration]

I built my bGeigie July of 2015 (no Wi-Fi on this one). Still using the same battery (5 years) and it gives at least 38 hours, full charge to black screen. New it may have been 42 hrs. Charge time is still around 8 hrs. If I unplug the charger cable as soon as the yellow charge light turns off, the start up display will read battery at 100%

Otherwise it reads 97%. Either way the run time doesn't change. 

I like the idea of that momentary contact switch activating a batt level reading, however, there may not be enough room for that software script. Might be a size limitation... Have you tried to reinstall the two root files on the card after reformatting the card?

.

Cold solder connection's: they wait until it's fully assembled before making their presence known.

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[Bern]

Thanks BRAINDEADADMINISTRATOR , that is a good suggestion.

I did so (I reformatted to FAT32 and recreated the two root files CONFIG.TXT and SAFECAST.TXT, using Notepad), but to no avail.

Still the same behaviors - NO LOGGER' and 'BATTERY LOW'.

However starting with an entirely clean SD card did allow me to notice that a log file is, in fact, being created, called 30360205.log, with three lines:

# NEW LOG

# format=1.3.4nano

# deadtime=on

And I note that my old SD card also had the same file, as well as one called "30360204.log", which has those same 3 lines, repeated 3 times.

"30360205" refers to Unit "3036" + February 5th "0205" = "30360205".

So the the GPS has acquired the date, it is just refusing to record anything about it.

Searching through the forum here I also note that there are explicit instructions to perform a 'GPS reset' for the first bootup (and apparently these instructions aren't emphasized correctly in the instructions https://github.com/Safecast/bGeigieNanoKit/wiki/Operations-Manual):

Following suggestions from Pieter, 

 -- Removed the Micro SD card and powered up;

 -- Waited for the "No SD Card / GPS Reset" message on the OLED;

 -- Powered off, and inserted the SD card, powered up again;

 -- Went for a walk -- the GPS found 9 satellites in a couple of minutes.

(Note that there is no indication of whether it matters whether we're in display mode or record mode (toggle switch up or down))

Which I have tried to replicate, letting the machine start and run in 'record mode' for about 6 minutes, ourdoors.

After the above reset process, taking > 5 minutes, the machine:

1. Still says NO LOGGER and BATTERY LOW
2. Correctly acquires satellites and reports the correct date.
3. Again writes a second file with the correct date: "3030206.log"
4. Creates an incorrect "3030206.log" file that contains no data, except to repeat the 3 lines, 3 times, same as I saw previously in 30360204.log.
5. No indication of the number of acquired satellites.
   

Here is what I see at each stage:

• Startup:

• Switches to white background almost immediately:
  

• ~ 1 minute: Initial GPS lock with weird Date "10/01" but correct UTC time:
  

• ~ 3 minutes: Final GPS lock with correct Date "06/02"
  

• Continued reading and recording for another ~3 minutes.

Conclusions:

• bGeigie nano doesn't quite work!

B